This invention relates to economical lubricants that have no, toxic ingredients so that they can be used to lubricate and/or rust protect machinery without danger of polluting products made by the machinery or the environment surrounding the machinery.
Machinery that processes and handles food and food products, requires lubricants, usually in such proximity to the food or food product that small amounts of such lubricants end up in the food.
The regulations of the Federal Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) prohibit the inclusion of materials in food unless the materials have been specifically approved by the Agency. Most mineral oils fall within such prohibition, so vegetable oils such as soybean oils, are commonly used as lubricants. Although such oils are effective, they have undesirable temperature/viscosity characteristics and can become rancid. Therefore, xe2x80x9cwhite oilsxe2x80x9dhave been developed for use with food machinery. White oils are characteristically colorless, odorless, and tasteless mineral oils produced by treating light industrial oils with acid and then neutralizing the resultant with a strong base. The treatment removes aromatics and olefins from such oils, resulting in benign oil products that are relatively non-reactive. Consequently, white oils are widely used in the food, drug, and cosmetic industries due to their non-staining properties, as well as their inertness, and particularly because of their freedom from toxic effects.
White oils have significant drawbacks, however, important in certain situations, in that they exhibit relatively high pour points as a result of the substantial amounts of wax contained in the oils and they are expensive. The wax present tends to leave solution when the oils are cooled, resulting in increased viscosity and making the oils difficult to handle, particularly at lower temperatures. While white oils derived from naphthenic mineral oils contain somewhat less wax than those produced from paraffinic materials, even the former oils can contain 10% or more wax, on a weight basis.
Normally, xe2x80x9cdewaxing aidsxe2x80x9d would be used to assist in the filtration of wax particles precipitated during wax-removing, chilling procedures by reducing the size of the precipitated particles, thus making them easier to filter. Such treatment is not feasible for white oils, however, because of their market applications in the food area, and the fact that such xe2x80x9caidsxe2x80x9d have not received approval of the F.D.A., and could at least in part remain in the oil following the wax-removal step.
Another approach used in enhancing the low-temperature handling characteristics of ordinary mineral oils involves the use of pour point depressants such as high molecular weight compositions formed by the alkylation of benzene, or derivatives thereof, by the polymerization of lower molecular weight methacrylates, or by condensation polymerizations involving compounds of various kinds. However, as in the case of dewaxing aids, the use of such materials cannot be use in association with foodstuffs because they have not received F.D.A. approvals.
Ethylene-vinyl acetatecopolymers have in the past been used as pour point depressants in petroleum products and white oils, since such copolymers have received approvals of the FDA for use in contact with foodstuffs. However, they have not been used in lubricants where much more economical vegetable oils are the primary ingredient.
Other lubricants such as those including distilled acetylated monoglycarides and vegetable oils as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,682 work well in bottle capping operations, but are about eight times more expensive to use than the present invention.
The present invention is a lubricant for use in food production applications to lubricate packaging equipment, mainly in the bottle capping industry to lubricate bottle cap crimping equipment. Other possible uses of the present invention include general lubrication of various types of food machinery, as an anti-corrosion coating for food production equipment including automated baking equipment and as an ecologically frendly antirust coating and lubricant for machinery, where pollution due to machine operation is a problem. Although it is not intended for use in a consumable product, it is non-toxic and can be consumed by humans without injury. The present lubricant includes economical constituents so that the present lubricant can be made available to industry at much lower cost than competing lubricants.
The present lubricant is primarily refined bleached deodorized soybean oil to which a food grade additive that confers xe2x80x9ctackxe2x80x9d or stringiness and a food grade anti-oxidant are added. In experimental use, the lubrication properties are as good or better than other known food grade lubricants sold for bottle capping applications.
Therefore it is an object to provide an economic food grade lubricant.
Another object is to provide a food grade lubricant that can be used in the rigorous mechanical environment of bottle capping machines.
Another object is to provide a food grade lubricant which is non-toxic and can be blended from commercially available ingredients.
Another object is to provide a food grade lubricant and/or anti-rust compound that can be used in pollution sensitive environments.
Another object is to provide a food grade material which can be used as a corrosion resisting coating.